By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com
RIO HONDO – The engineer contracted by the City of Rio Hondo to design a new water plant in 2003 said he has yet to be paid for his work.
Noe Garza of Noe Garza Engineers, Inc. said he began work on a proposed multi-million dollar water plant several years ago that amounted to $189,000 in services. Nearly eight years later, and about six years after the plans had been submitted, Garza said that amount has now reached $223,000 in interest.
“I started this project in 2003. It was a different commission then, of course, but in 2005 we submitted the plans through a state agency, TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), and we got it approved by the USDA, which was the agency offering the grant,” Garza said.
The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) grant Garza was referring to was for $3.8 million.
“It was going to be big based on the commission’s decision to build a $5.1 million plant, but the present commission asked to scale it down to see if they could afford it. So I scaled it down to a 1.2 mgd (million gallons per day) project and got the lending agency to agree, which would have cost $3.6 million, but in the meantime I’m holding the bag.”
The $5.1 million plant would’ve provided 1.8 mgd, according to Garza. Regardless of the commission’s decision to research building a smaller water plant, the engineer said he contemplated suing the City of Rio Hondo for what he said was money owed to him for the initial project.
“I had borrowed money to upgrade my business to last year. I’m in debt about $300,000, basically because I did the work but never paid,” Garza said.
Mayor Alonzo Garza said the city can’t afford to pay the engineer. “We don’t have that kind of money to pay the guy. He wanted over $300,000 to pay for a blueprint. We had nothing to do with that, and now the city attorney is looking into it,” Mayor Garza said.
Regarding the affordability, Commissioners Gus Olivares and Mike Uresti concurred.
“As you can see, we don’t have a water plant. So when I came in, we discussed that we were going to try to figure something out, because the water plant that (Garza) had proposed to us, there’s no way the citizens can afford that,” Uresti said. “I know that when Mr. Garza came to the board he said we’d try to work something out, but right now what he did for us is basically useless, so you want the citizens to pay all that money for something we can’t even use and afford?”
Not everyone on the Rio Hondo City Commission agrees, however, as Commissioner Arnulfo “Kitter” Huerta expressed concern on the matter, noting further that he and fellow Commissioner Enrique Tello had voted to pay the engineer at a recent meeting. “As far as the city owing the money, yes I do,” Huerta said when asked if he was familiar with the services Garza provided the city. “Commissioner Tello and I had voted to pay him off, but we were out-voted.”
Another issue that Mayor Garza and Uresti said was problematic concerned the $3.8 million USDA grant, which according to them was not utilized due to an error by a previous administration.
“At one time we had a grant that basically would have paid for a new water plant, which was $3.8 million, and now it’s going to cost the citizens $5 million. We don’t have the money, simple as that. We were depending on that grant to come in, and apparently it didn’t come through,” Uresti said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Garza laid the blame on former City Administrator Jose L. Lopez, who recently applied for his old job before Hipolito Cabrera of Santa Rosa was selected.
“Mr. Lopez, the city manager at the time, dropped the ball on a $3.8 million grant they gave to us for the water plant. Then they want to get a $5 million water plant? That’s money we don’t have,” the mayor said.
Lopez remembers it differently, stating that the error, which was the failure to advertise for an engineer on the project, was not his. “That’s totally untrue,” Lopez said when informed of the mayor’s comments. “A consultant said we did not advertise for the engineer position, and I was not told anything about that. So that was the consultant who dropped the ball,” Lopez quipped.
In the meantime, Garza said he’s proceeding with plans to sue the City of Rio Hondo in hopes of being compensated for his services, this after what he stressed were repeated attempts to resolve the situation.
“I tried to work with the city all kinds of ways, and I explained to them that I paid the engineers I hired to do the designs with me. It always came out of my pocket and I never received a penny from them (City of Rio Hondo). Their excuse is always they don’t have the money, but they really put me in a bind, and I have to file (suit). There’s no way around it,” Garza said.
To see this story in print, pick up a copy of the Sept. 4 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
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